Electric shavers are commonly used to shave facial and body hair. Many people prefer electric shavers to razors because the cutting blades of electric shavers do not contact the skin, thereby reducing the risk of nicks, cuts and other skin irritations. One conventional type of electric shaver type is commonly referred to as a foil shaver (FIG. 1), wherein a cutting blade assembly (FIG. 2) comprised of multiple, parallel aligned cutting blades are disposed for joint reciprocation within a thin, flexible apertured foil or mesh screen. The cutting blade assembly is reciprocated relative to the foil, with cutting edges of the blades in contact with the inner surface of the foil, so that the cutting edges of the blades repeatedly cross the apertures formed in the foil. By sliding the outer surface of the foil over the skin surface to be shaven, individual short hairs enter the apertures formed in the foil and are cut by the cutting edges of the reciprocating blades.
Cutting blade assemblies are typically constructed by mounting multiple cutting blades in parallel, spaced relationship with each other on a common support shaft as shown in FIG. 2. The blades may be circular, semi-circular or other shapes. In particular, each of the blades has a peripheral edge that is contoured to correspond generally to the cross-sectional shape of the foil to thereby facilitate flush contact between the blades and the foil. The blades are typically stamped out of a metal strip having a uniform thickness.
It is also known to coat part or all of a cutting blade used in foils shavers with a suitable coating compound, such as a titanium compound, a nickel compound or the like to increase the strength and wear resistance of the blades. In one process, the cutting blade assembly, i.e., with individual cutting blades mounted on a common support shaft in spaced relationship with each other, are subjected to a conventional coating process such as a physical vapor deposition process (PVD) to coat the opposite faces of each cutting blade. However, such a process coats a relatively small number of blades.
It would be desirable to coat the blades prior to assembling the cutting blade assembly. For example, a substantial number of cutting blades are currently loaded onto a wire or thin rod as shown in FIG. 3 following initial forming, but prior to assembling the cutting blade assembly, for ease of storage and transport of the cutting blades. However, effective simultaneous coating of the cutting blades in such an arrangement is difficult because the blades have a tendency to stack against each other on the wire as shown in FIG. 3, thereby inhibiting the opposite faces of the blades from being properly coated.
There is a need, therefore, for cutting blades that more readily remain separated from each other during coating prior to assembly of the cutting blade assembly.